I am currently working on a project using Arduino to develop a drowning detection system in swimming pools.
I started my approach by using ultrasonic sensors and try the SONAR concept to detect humans underwater. But in this approach I could not find any reliable underwater ultrasonic sensors which could give me good results. I used JSN-SR04T sensor and MB1040 sensor for this purpose but they did not give me good results.
I need suggestions to change my approach or to use some different sensors to complete this project. I am looking to develop a low cost system.
I would think you need to define what the characteristics of a drowning person are first. Then, search for something that can detect that characteristic.
Say there's a pool of thrashing ten-year-olds, how will you distinguish the one thrasher who's in distress?
Listen for the splash? Then you only need a microphone to work in air.
Some car alarms from the 90s (maybe earlier) use ultrasonic detectors. They don't really detect a body but they detect a change in the ultrasound bouncing around inside the vehicle interior. An unoccupied swimming pool would be very similar to the car with the doors closed.
The hard part is finding transducers that are waterproof. I'm afraid you are going to have to spend money.
What if there is an automatic pool cleaner? Do you want your system to ignore that?
I believe its called a lifeguard (the human kind).
I suspect that an electronic system like this (whether cheap or expensive) would increase the risk of drowning rather than reduce it simply because people would be less careful.
And if it gave a lot of false positives it would be ignored - like the little boy who cried wolf.
Whether a project like this makes sense rather depends wheter its real or not.
If its real, then its plain silly to ask advice on how to build a drowning protection system from the public Internet, a professional engineer ought to have their own ideas and the ability and insurance to carry them out.
If its just a (home work) exersize, then theorise away .........................
Unless the cheap detector is also going to save the drowning person there needs to be a lifeguard.
If the lifeguard needs this detector, that is a crappy no-good lifeguard. If the lifeguard is addicted to a phone or game or chatting with friends on the job, that is a negligent lifeguard with prison sentence future.
Really the only cheap about this idea is how unbelievably cheap anyone could be about drowning. There are people that stupid about every kind of safety but a product would be a paid-for excuse.
Sooooo, how many is the government going to pay for?
I am currently working on a project using Arduino to develop a drowning detection system in swimming pools.
I started my approach by using ultrasonic sensors and try the SONAR concept to detect humans underwater. But in this approach I could not find any reliable underwater ultrasonic sensors which could give me good results. I used JSN-SR04T sensor and MB1040 sensor for this purpose but they did not give me good results.
I need suggestions to change my approach or to use some different sensors to complete this project. I am looking to develop a low cost system.
Need help and guidance to complete the project.
Thanks and Regards,
Yash
Do you know WHY your SONAR solution won't work?
It's because SONAR only reflects the signal when there is a large difference in density between the water and the detected object. Humans are most water, so not much difference in density there.
More like: the JSN-SR04T does not work under water (it's waterproof, not underwater). The MB1040 likewise.
Fish finders use underwater ultrasound and seem to have no problem finding fish, which are also mostly water. In case of people the large air pockets they carry (commonly called lungs) should give a good reflection to underwater sonar if the body itself doesn't.
wvmarle:
More like: the JSN-SR04T does not work under water (it's waterproof, not underwater). The MB1040 likewise.
Fish finders use underwater ultrasound and seem to have no problem finding fish, which are also mostly water. In case of people the large air pockets they carry (commonly called lungs) should give a good reflection to underwater sonar if the body itself doesn't.
The fish the finders find have scales which are really hard if you bite down on them.
